Alien limit cycles in Lienard equations

Abstract

This paper aims at providing an example of a family of polynomial Lienard equations exhibiting an alien limit cycle. This limit cycle is perturbed from a 2-saddle cycle in the boundary of an annulus of periodic orbits given by a Hamiltonian vector field. The Hamiltonian represents a truncated pendulum of degree 4. In comparison to a former polynomial example, not only the equations are simpler but a lot of tedious calculations can be avoided, making the example also interesting with respect to simplicity in treatment. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.